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Party in the U.S.A.
"Party in the U.S.A." is a song by American recording artist and actress Miley Cyrus for her first extended play (EP) The Time of Our Lives (2009). It was released on August 11, 2009, by Hollywood Records as the lead single from the project. The song was written and produced by Dr. Luke, with additional songwriting provided by Jessie J and Claude Kelly. "Party in the U.S.A." was originally intended for Jessie J, but after deciding it was not edgy enough for her, they passed it to Cyrus and adjusted the lyrics to fit her persona. Not completely identifying with "Party in the U.S.A.", Cyrus chose it for The Time of Our Lives partially due to a need for tracks. The song is a pop song, while the lyrics reflect her relocating from Nashville, Tennessee, to Hollywood, California. This is one of two collaborations between Cyrus and Dr. Luke, with "Wrecking Ball" following in 2013. "Party in the U.S.A." was a critical and commercial success, reaching the top ten of charts in eight countries. In the United States, the song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was the sixth-best-selling digital single of 2009 and was also deemed as one of the best-selling singles in history. It remains Hollywood Records' fastest and best-selling single to date, selling 6 million copies worldwide as of October 2012. The single was certified six times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and quadruple platinum by Music Canada. The music video for "Party in the U.S.A.", directed by Chris Applebaum, pays tribute to the 1978 film Grease and Cyrus' parents' courting days. It occurs mainly at a drive-in theater and won the MuchMusic Video Award for Best International Artist Video at the 2010 award show. The song was performed live for Cyrus' world tours, the 2009 Wonder World Tour and the 2011 Gypsy Heart Tour. At the 2009 Teen Choice Awards, Cyrus' use of a pole during a performance of "Party in the U.S.A.", which some interpreted to be a dance pole, caused a media uproar. Although co-writer Jessie J originally decided not to record "Party in the U.S.A." after writing it, she did eventually, among various other artists, perform a cover version of the song. "Party in the U.S.A." has also been parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic. Background Soon after signing a record deal with Lava Records, aspiring English singer Jessie J commenced to work on her debut album. She collaborated with songwriters and producers Dr. Luke and Claude Kelly in her first writing session, where "Party in the U.S.A." was conceived with the intention of being performed by Jessie J. However, she decided not to record the song, believing it was not edgy enough for her to perform. She explained, "And I remember thinking this song is amazing, but I don't know if it's me 110 percent, you know. You can kind of feel it." The song reached Cyrus while she was creating an EP with Dr. Luke. The writing team then reworked the lyrics, intending to write an accompanying theme for Cyrus' joint clothing line with Max Azria, exclusively sold in Wal-Mart stores. In order to please audiences, Dr. Luke, Kelly and Jessie J fixated on composing a fun, upbeat song that narrated reflections of Cyrus' personality. "They feel they're buying into a great experience but also buying into the artist", Kelly said of the song's fans. To write his contributions to the song, Kelly said he desired to mimic Cyrus' songwriting: "It’s the same song from a different point of view, you just have to find that unique perspective." To record the song's instrumentation, they decided to mingle computerized sound with "the warmth of live instrumentation", using live electric guitars and drums. Cyrus was pleased with the song and selected it partially due to a need of tracks for The Time of Our Lives. This is the first of two collaborations between Dr. Luke and Cyrus. Dr. Luke would later co-produce Cyrus' 2013 smash hit single "Wrecking Ball". Cyrus has stated "Party in the U.S.A." is not a reflection of her musically, as she preferred songs with more of an edge. She said the track was "an all-American song" and claimed she had never heard a Jay-Z song in November 2009, an artist which the lyrics refer to. However, she did state she enjoyed Britney Spears' music, also mentioned in the song. "Party in the U.S.A." was chosen as the lead single from The Time of Our Lives, as Cyrus thought personnel were "picking up on it", although she did not expect for it to be commercially successful. The song was first played on radio stations on July 29, 2009, following a leak of the track on the Internet on July 28, 2009. "Party in the U.S.A." was officially released for airplay on August 3, 2009, and as a digital download on August 11, 2009 Composition "Party in the U.S.A." is a dance-pop song with a length of three minutes and 23 seconds. The song arranges R&B and pop music elements and contains small influences from reggae. The song is set in common time and has a moderate tempo of 96 beats pernute. It is written in the key of F# major and Cyrus' vocals span two octaves, from F#3 to D#5.14 Cyrus' vocals display an undertone of twang15 and features belter refrains. It follows the chord progression F#–A#m–D#m–C#.14 The song's instrumentation includes a "clash between feathery jazz guitar chords and a booming synth bassline serving as hook". The lyrics for "Party in the U.S.A." are written in first person, about Cyrus' relocation from Nashville, Tennessee to Hollywood, California. In the verses, she details occurrences in Hollywood, such as peers questioning her attire, that cause for her to feel homesick and intimidated. Towards the conclusion of each verse, the protagonist listens to her favorite Jay-Z and Britney Spears song, respectively, which leads to the refrains describing how her favorite songs make her feel more confident. Vicki Lutas of BBC interpreted, "However cringe it sounds, your favourite song can make you feel okay and feel more confident, even if you're not really." Critical reception "Party in the U.S.A." garnered critical acclaim from music critics. Michael Hann of The Guardian said "Party in the U.S.A." was a cute pop song Later, while reviewing the Wonder World Tour, he elaborated that the song was a reminder "that manufactured pop need not be a bad thing – if the manufacturing is good enough". Jaime Gill of Yahoo! Music said, "Fortunately for Cyrus, other songs from The Time of Our Lives flee your brain cells within seconds of their final chords, which means you're more likely to remember the breezily brilliant hit 'Party in the U.S.A.'" Mikael Wood of New York City's Time Out magazine described the song as a "killer tune ... which proves that Miley makes for a much better rapper than you might expect". Bill Lamb of About.com gave "Party in the U.S.A." four out of five stars for Cyrus' vocals, engaging lyrics and reflective pace change, but recognized it was slight in depth. He predicted it would broaden her "fan base as she slowly becomes an adult pop singer". Heather Phares of Allmusic selected the track as one of the EPs best, describing it as a frothy party anthem suitable for Cyrus' alias, Hannah Montana. Erik Ensrst of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said the song was "ridiculously catchy". Mikael Wood of Entertainment Weekly decided that "Party in the U.S.A." was Cyrus' bouncy attempt at urban music, since she had previously transitioned into other markets. Jessica Holland of The Observer deemed "Party in the U.S.A." one of the highlights on The Time of Our Lives. Michael Menachem of Billboard stated the song was one of Cyrus' most entertaining songs. Menachem continued, "Luke injects the song with an energy recalling Robyn and early Gwen Stefani. After successfully tackling dance and country formats and delivering one of the year's strongest ballads ('The Climb'), Cyrus continues to show off her impressive range." Ryan Brockington of The New York Post said that although the track was more mainstream than Cyrus' prior singles, he did not hate it. Vicki Lutas of BCC described "Party in the U.S.A." as "a breath of fresh air" while being "seriously stomping" and slightly relatable. She said the song's best attribute was Cyrus' voice and concluded that Cyrus contains an ability of making her voice sound interesting all the time. Upon listening to the track, Lutas feels that "suddenly you think someone else is in the room with you and you've got all the ingredients for, well, a huge party contained in one little song." Commercial performance "Party in the U.S.A." debuted and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending August 29, 2009, due to the sale of over 226,000 digital downloads, thus becoming the fastest-selling single released by Hollywood Records. It became Cyrus' best-charting effort on the chart up to that point, surpassing her prior best-charting effort "The Climb", which peaked at number four in May 2009. The week's appearance also marked the highest debut by a female solo artist since Carrie Underwood's "Inside Your Heaven", which debuted at number one in July 2005. In the succeeding weeks, "Party in the U.S.A." continued to sell and chart on the Billboard Hot 100 strongly, spending 16 consecutive weeks in the top ten and 28 weeks in total. It also peaked at number one on Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs), and number 13 on Adult Pop Songs. According to Billboard, "Party in the U.S.A." was the sixth-best selling digital single of 2009 and 18th-best selling digital single of all time. The single was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments exceeding four million copies and became Hollywood Records' best-selling single to date. As of October 2012, "Party in the U.S.A" surpassed selling 5 million copies in the United States, making Cyrus the youngest artist to have a single that sold more than five million downloads. It is among the one of the best-selling singles of all time, selling more than 5.38 million copies. "Party in the U.S.A." peaked at number three on the Canadian Hot 100.The single was certified quadruple platinum by the Music Canada for the sales of 320,000 digital downloads. As of February 2014, the song has sold 5,416,000 downloads in the US. The song also became successful in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. On the week ending September 13, 2009, "Party in the U.S.A." debuted at number 14 on the Australian Singles Chart. The following week, the song ascended to a new peak at number nine and peaked at number six on the week ending November 8, 2009. The single was certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for the shipment of 140,000 copies. "Party in the U.S.A." debuted at number 11 on the New Zealand Singles Chart and peaked at number three on the week ending November 9, 2009. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) for the shipment of 15,000 copies. On the week ending January 9, 2010, "Party in the U.S.A." debuted at number 49 on the Japan Hot 100 Chart and, in the succeeding week, reached its peak at number four. In the United Kingdom, "Party in the U.S.A." entered and peaked at number 11. The song tied with "See You Again" and "The Climb", which charted in August 2008 and March 2009, respectively, for Cyrus' best-charting effort in the United Kingdom. In Ireland, the song peaked at number five. In mainland Europe, "Party in the U.S.A." peaked at number 17 on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles Chart, number six on both the French Singles Chart and Hungarian Singles Chart, and peaked at number 12 on Norwegian Singles Chart. It received lower commercial success throughout other regions of Europe, becoming a top 40 hit in Austria, Belgium (Wallonia and Flanders), Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain and Sweden. Lyrics Category:Miley Cyrus Category:Songs Category:The Time of Our Lives Category:The Time of Our Lives songs Category:Singles